Quietly, in the background, in spare moments here and there, and the occasional half-hour in the recliner, the blue socks have continued to grow. They're now past gussets and onto the straight part of the foot (but not far onto it.)

Gussets clearly visible between heel flap, bottom, and top of foot.

Since I'm making the pattern for socks for myself from scratch, I try the socks on multiple times during their growth...and for this pair, compare the feel of the first pair to this pair. I wanted the socks to fit somewhat closer but not tightly. The difficulty compared to "textbook" legs, feet, and ankles is that I have some swelling in my lower legs and ankles, but much less in my feet. So I need a wider cuff than foot....how much to reduce the width in that gusset is still up for review, but this pair definitely fits better than the first pair.

Still a little looser at the heel, but fits better around instep. Next pair will reduce 2-4 stitchesbelow cuff ribbing before making heel flap.

Although I'm wearing these socks over thin socks for the pictures, they won't be worn over other socks ordinarily, so I want a fairly snug feel over the under-socks. Here are a couple of closer-up pictures that show the fit from heel to past the gusset. Needles distort the first few rows, of course. (But it's a lot easier to try them on with 4 needles than 3!!

The sock on the left has a smoother join at the gusset but some mistakes in the cuff ribbing. The sock on the right has smoother cuff ribbing but a rougher join at the gusset. Learning goes back and forth between the two socks in the pair. You may be able to see a little of the fullness at the back of the heel on the sock on the right. In that space between the cuff ribbing and the gusset angle is where I'm thinking of taking out a few stitches. Then I won't need to decrease as many in the gusset itself.

And Green One socks, the pair after Blue One, both now have ribbing long enough that it won't easily invert itself through the space between needles.

Yesterday, between supper and choir practice, some of the kids who are in the various youth choirs were hanging out where I was knitting. I was working on the cuff ribbing of one of the Green One socks, but had Blue One with me as well, and was wearing Red One, the very first (and full of errors) pair. Some were more interested than others, including one tiny one who must have been no more than four or five. . Not only was she interested, but she was asking really good questions. Also attracted a woman who had been convinced that socks were far too hard for her, since her one sweater turned out badly. I showed off Red One's mistakes--that clearly left it still wearable as socks--and admitted I'd been scared to attempt socks for decades because I believed they were incredibly difficult. I told her about YarnHarlot's Knitting Rules, the book that--with a little internet video help--got me through my first pair (and I still need it for heel turning--her description is clear enough and brief enough for the most novice or novices...like me.) She kept saying "You make it sound easy" and I kept saying "I was amazed how easy it was, mistakes and all." Maybe she'll try it herself.

I would really like to finish Blue One in the next few days. That would uncrowd my knitting bag (since I'm carrying around the two Blue One socks and the two Green One socks, tiny as they are right now) and besides I've have two pairs of handknit socks to wear, one of which would fit much better than the other. I need at least three pairs of socks to take to A-Kon....and all my store-bought thick socks have holes, besides being so much less than comfortable. (I hate elastic in the ribbed cuffs. I especially hate really tight tops of socks. They make dents in my legs.) I'd really like to have four pair...and in the long run, many more than that. Red One takes two days to dry--I'm wearing that pair twice a week (Wednesdays, when I have voice lesson and choir which means lots of standing, and Sundays, when I'm singing at services and that means lots of standing, too.

I've now acquired some Superwash yarn, but since I don't mind handwashing wool socks, I'll go through the original colors first, while working on the pattern. Naturally both husband and son now want socks (and theirs will be Superwash wool--not trusting them to remember which is which) and I've got two more pair promised elsewhere, one for a friend who needs them to wear over compression stockings (which give no warmth, she says.)

You go to A-Kon? My son wanted to go this year with my cousin, but unfortunately his schedule isn't allowing him to go. We were disappointed. I wanted to go with my cousin and we could all dress in theme. lol

The socks are looking great. Do you know yet how they may or may not change after washing? Will that make a difference in the fit?

I went to A-Kon for the first time last year and really enjoyed it. So yes, I'm very happy to be going again this year.

I've washed the first pair repeatedly now--they fit the same way (I'm afraid to try shrinking them with agitation, since I don't know how to control the process and don't want to end up with felted boots for a newborn. So I just wear them loose and let it be.)

There's an article on washing woolens here: http://www.fuzzygalore.biz/articles/wash_sweater.shtml This is for wool that's not Superwash (Superwash wool can be done in a washing machine, and commercial wool socks do fine that way.) So far I'm doing socks with non-Superwash wool. The ability to use hot water surprised me, but I've tried it and if you don't scrub and twist and stuff, the socks stay just the same as they were.

I'm waiting for my cousin to reach an age that she'll enjoy your style of writing, and then I'll proceed to get her addicted. It's one reason I don't do e-books. I loan out my hardbacks to everyone I can. I originally borrowed a new hardback of Deeds from a friend and accidentally got pizza sauce on one page. It took me awhile to find another new copy of it to replace it. The pizza version is still in my bookcase. :)

My cousin loves A-Kon. I really want to go, but this year I won't be able to. I hope to go next year with her. We were thinking of both cross dressing cosplay. She's short and loves to cosplay tall male characters, and I'm tall, so I figured I'd cosplay a short female character. Luckily, I don't embarrass easily. :)

Thanks for the information on the woolens. I hadn't realized there were different types and it would effect how you washed them.

Re: socks with snugger fit

How do you handle the transition from smaller to your usual size when you reconnect the heel flap to the rest?

Actually, I'm planning to reinforce the heel the way one of the books I have showed it: you use a tapestry needle and yarn running up and down vertically through the wrong side of the heel flap stitches...that would both take up the little extra "space" and fill out the sides of my shoes & boots, where my heel slides up and down.

Those are looking so great! Hooray! :) Did you try the gusset picking up both strands of the edge stitches? It worked SO well for my last pair.

Speaking of cons, would you ever consider doing a smaller SF/F readers' & writers' convention in Calgary? I can mention you to the organizers of When Words Collide in Calgary when they're asking for suggestions for next year. Last year was the first one, and it was great - Jack Whyte, Robert J. Sawyer, Walter Jon Williams, Edge Publishing (Brian Hades), and lots of others. This year has some of the same folks and some new faces. I'm really hoping I can go again this year. :) (http://www.whenwordscollide.org/)

I haven't done a sweater yet. But consider this: all of a sweater is out there on public view. But socks--if you wear long pants--are mostly hidden by shoes and by pants, unless you choose to show them off. I have told people about the mistakes of the red socks, and showed them to the kids and the woman yesterday to make them feel more comfortable with the idea that mistakes weren't fatal. (Not in socks, anyway.) But when I'm wearing them, with my shoes on and my jeans covering my ankles...who can see a mistake? And if they feel good...that's what counts.

And socks--even two socks--are SMALLER than sweaters. These socks, the blue ones, are 60 stitches around at the top, and 54 stitches around beyond the gusset decreses. So rows take less time. And yarn. Each sock (with this yarn) takes over half, but quite a bit less than the whole, ball of yarn...and I'm planning to make garishly striped socks out of the leftover lengths (bright red/bright blue/bright green/etc. Nothing subtle.) And since they're smaller, they take less time.

(added in edit) Your favorite blue? This yarn is Ella rae Classic, color number 97 (dye lot 3144) in 100g balls. You do have to pretty much eviscerate the balls to find an end, though a few have the helpful end hanging out.

BlueOne is now down to the toe decreases but not finished. There were interruptions. As always. Still dithering about whether to make BlueOne "anatomical" (with a right and a left sock,) or "symmetrical". Can't dither long, as I need them. The easy way out is symmetrical, but anatomical would be more comfortable (just as right and left shoes are!)